Supporting and drawing device for curtains and the like



WEBER 2,786,522

SUPPORTING AND DRAWING DEVICE FOR CURTAINS AND THE LIKE March 26, 1957Filed June 6, 1955 United States Patent SUPPQRTHNG AND DRAWENG DEVICEFOR QURTAENS AND THE LEKE Alexander Welter, Zollikoten, near Bern,Switzerland,

assignor to Hans laser, hem, and Firm Awepa, Zolliliofen, near darn,Switzerland Application lune 6, 1955, Serial No. 513,556

9 (Ilaims. (Cl. loll- 345) This invention relates to a supporting anddrawing device for curtains, hanging scene wings, folding Walls and thelike which are slidably supported by means of runners guided in achannelled rail, whereby a draw cord slidably extends and islongitudinally guided in a separate channel of the rail provided with alongitudinal slot of width narrower than the thickness of the draw cordand at least one master runner is connected to the draw cord by pinmeans traversing the slot and piercing the draw cord.

While in U. S. patent application Serial No. 348,788 a device of thischaracter is described, it is an object of the present. invention toprovide an improved master runner which is particularly adapted for usein hollow profile rails of comparatively very small cross sectionaldimensions, in which case certain detachable parts of hitherto knownmaster runners, it reduced proportionally, would become too small.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a master runnerhaving pin means which are integral 'with the guiding body of therunner, whereby the guiding body is guided by the rail in parallelrelation to the draw cord channel and the pin means are maintained incoupling engagement with the draw cord exclusivelyby the guiding effectof the rail upon said body and said draw cord.

A further object of the invention is to provide a master runner adaptedto couple the two ends of the draw cord so that the latter constitutesan endless pulling member.

Other objects and advantages of the invention relate to various improveddetails of construction and novel arrangements of the parts of thesupporting and drawing device as will be more fully set forth in thedetailed description to follow.

in the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a view from below of an embodiment of 21 ourtain supportingand drawing device, part of the support ing rail being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a lateral longitudinal view of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 shows a cross section along line 3-3 of Fig. 2, however drawn toa larger scale; I

Fig. 4 shows in cross section another supporting rail together with amaster runner;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a master runner and a portion of thedraw cord of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 shows a further supporting rail in cross section, and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another master runner.

The curtain supporting and drawing device shown in Figs. 1 to 3comprises a hollow profile rail which preferably consists-oi aluminum,brass, artificial resinor the like and has internally two parallelcylindrical channels 41 for the two runs of an endless draw cord 42slidably extending therein and in the middle therebetween and parallelthereto a separate channel 43 of substantially rectangular cross sectionfor the runners 16 slidably supported by two ledges 44 of the rail 40.Each runner 16 has a guiding portion 16' projecting outwardly throughPatented Mar. 26, 1957 a slot 45 laterally defined by the ledges 44which guide said runners in said slot. For supporting a curtain (notshown) the runners 16 have each an intermediary constricted portion 29whereon a. hook 46 is pivotally sus pended.

The two draw cord channels 41 are inside of the rail each incommunication with the runner channel 43 through a slot 47, which slotsare arranged in alinement with the common axial plane of the draw cordchannels 41 which comprises also the longitudinal axis of the runnerchannel 43. The draw cord 42 is guided over the whole length of the rail40 by the cylindrical surface of channel 41 which normally may have awidth of about /5 inch only and permits a slight radial play of the drawcord, while the width of the slot 47 is sufficiently less than thethickness of the draw cord in order to avoid wedging of the latter insaid slot.

T he height of the runner channel 43 is approximately the same as thewidth of the draw cord channels so that the total height or thicknessor" the rail 46 can be very greatly reduced and may be about /4 to /3inch only and the total Width of the cross section according to Figure 3remains still below 1 inch. Tests have proved that the function or" therunners and the operation of the draw cord is not hampered at all in arail structure of such reduced dimensions.

For transmitting the travelling motion of one or the other run of thedraw cord 42 upon a curtain a master runner 43 is disposed immediatelybetween two ordinary runners 16 in the channel 43 to co-operate at itsfront faces with said two adjoining runners. The master runner 48 issupported by the ledges 44 and has a portion 48 projecting therebetweento be guided in the slot 45 of the rail 4! This master runner has twolateral projections 49 spaced from each other in sliding direction(Figures l and 3) the free ends of which are directed towards each otherand which projections, previous to" inserting the master runner in therail 46, are both inserted into the draw cord 42 each at a pro-piercedpoint thereof, whereupon the draw cord 42 together with the runners 4.8and 16 are positioned in the respective channels it and 43 of the railat), so that the two projections 49 traverse the corresponding slot atin the rail to. if there is a second curtain intended for sliding in theopposite direction a second master runner is provided to be coupled tothe other run of the draw cord and to co-operate with two of theordinary runners supporting said second curtain.

The engagement of the draw cord 42 by the projections 49 of the masterrunner 48 which form undetachable integral parts of the latter is onlysecured by the structural fact that the master runner andthe MTHW cordare both guided in the rail at a substantially unal tering distance fromeach other. As seen from Figure l, the master runner can also be usedfor coupling the two ends 'tl of the draw cord together in order toprovide an endless drawing member. In this case each cord end is woundround with thread and is preferably lacquered thereafiter for preventingan eventual giving way by fringing, while the projections 59 of themaster runner 48 traverse ends in front of the respective wound portion56.

As shownin Figures 1 and 2, at the one end face of the rail 40, a Goodreversing guide. 51 and, atthe other end face, a cord deviation guide52' are fitted. Said guides have respectively a cord reversing channel53 or two separate cord deviating channels 54, which channels 53 and 54correspond with the channels 41 of the rail 4 The outer openings 55 ofthe two channels 54 at the lower face of the guide 52 are staggered toeach other in longitudinal direction of the rail so that said guide mayalso be used on a rail arranged with the outer slot 45 sideways, wherebythe two runs of the downwardly hanging 3 loop 56 of the draw cord arestill spaced from each other. The loop 56 may run round a universalreversing guide member 57 which is engaged by a spring 58 or a weightfor tensioning the draw cord.

The rail 60 shown in Figure 4 has two outer side flanges 61 by means ofwhich it is mounted on a lateral support 62 having correspondingly twoprojecting flanges 63 which engage the rail flanges 61. The rail 69 hasbesides a runner channel 64 only one draw cord channel 65 whichcommunicates with the channel 64 through an internal slot 66. Figures 4and 5 show a modification of a master runner having on its sliding body67 two spaced projections 68 for engaging the draw cord by traversingthe rail slot 66 and the draw cord. The master runner is guided in theouter rail slot 69 by means of another projection 70 forming on theoutside a sti-rmp 7i whereon a hook 72 is pivotally mounted forsupporting together with the hooks of ordinary runners a curtain.

The rail 73 shown in Figure 6 is a double type of the rail 6%), havingtwo runner channels 74 and two draw cord channels 75, the axes of theseparallel channels being contained in a common plane, so that the railmay have a very reduced height of about 4 inch only. This rail isadapted to support two or more complementary sections of a curtain,which can be moved in opposite direction to one another by means of anendless draw cord. The distance between the two draw cord channels 75 isthe same as in the rail 40.

Figure 7 shows a further modification of a master runner, adapted to bemade in very small dimensions so as to fit for instance in a runnerchannel which is about inch wide and less than /5 inch high. The slidingbody 76 of said runner is made of synthetic resin and has a narrowerportion 77 with which the runner is guided in the outer slot of therail. In the body 76 is secured a sheet metal piece 78 bent at rightangle, the one leg of which provides two spaced projections 79 forengaging the draw cord by traversing the same, while the other leg formsan annular projection 80 traversing the portion 77 and intended to beused for connection with the curtain. The metal piece 78 has within thebody 76 an aperture 81 which is fully traversed by material of said bodyfor anchoring purposes. The free ends of the projections 79 are slightlydirected towards each other for better engagement with the draw cord.

Preferably the runners, master runners and direction changers consist ofpressed material, such as synthetic resin, as far as their slidingsurfaces are concerned, and the sectional rails consist of metal.Specially the synthetic resin under the commercial designation nylon isexcellently suitable for the purposes in view since its coefiicient offriction is low, its resistance against wear is high and its meltingpoint lies at about 290 C. far above the possible local heating due tofriction so that no deformation will occur. Instead of runners sectionalrails equipped with rollers may be provided.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown andherein described, it will be understood that the same was capable ofmodification without departure from the general scope and spirit of theinvention as defined in the claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A supporting and drawing device for curtains and the like, which areslidably supported by means of runners guided in a channelled rail, adraw cord slidably extending. and being longitudinally guided in aseparate channel of said rail, said draw cord channel having alongitudinal slot of width narrower than the thickness of said drawcord, at least one master runner being connected to said draw cord bypin means traversing said slot and piercing said draw cord,characterized in that said pin means are integral with the guiding bodyof said master runner, whereby said guiding body is guided by said railin parallel relation to said draw cord channel and said pin means aremaintained in coupling engagement with said draw cord exclusively by theguiding effect of said rail upon said body and said draw cord.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said draw cord channel andSaid runner channel communicate with each other through a slot arrangedlongitudinal-1y in the interior of said rail, characterized in that saidmaster runner has two pin-like projections extending transversely of andspaced from each other in its sliding direction for traversing saidinternal slot and piercing said draw cord, whereby said master runner iscapable of coupling the two ends of said draw cord together in that eachprojection traverses one of the end portions of said draw cord in orderto transform the latter in an endless draw cord.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the runner channel of saidrail has a longitudinal slot at the exterior of said rail, characterizedin that said master runner has alongside a projection for extending intosaid slot and for being guided in longitudinal direction of said rail byrail flanges defining said slot.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said masterrunner is positioned immediately between two ordinary runners and hasfront surfaces for co-operating as a shifting member with said runners.

5. A device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that said masterrunner has at its projection extending into said outer slot a suspensionmeans for carrying a portion of a curtain.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that said twopin-like projections and said suspension means consist of a single metalpiece which is rigidly embedded in the remaining portion of said masterrunner.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rail has two parallelsubstantially cylindrical channels for a draw cord extending to and fro,characterized in that the axes of said two draw cord channels togetherwith the axis of at least one runner channel are located in a commonplane, whereby all said channels are substantially equal in height so asto limit the total height of said rail in direct relation with theheight of said channels.

8. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that at the two endsof said rail two cord guides are provided for altering the direction ofsaid draw cord, one of said guides having two separate cord deviatingchannels each with an outer opening on the same longitudinal side ofsaid rail, said two openings being staggered to each other inlongitudinal direction of said rail.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rail has two parallelchannels for a draw cord extending to and fro, characterized in that toeach one of said draw cord channels a runner channel is provided on theouter side thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,972,604 Smith Sept. 4, 1934 2,718,922 Fetter Sept. 27, i955 FOREIGNPATENTS 477,366 Great Britain Dec. 31, 1937

